Carlos Antonio Palad - Ecclesia Dei Society of St. Joseph (Philippines)

I was born in 1982 in Quezon City, which is part of the Metropolitan Manila area, the Philippines. I was born to a Catholic mother and a father who was baptized Catholic but became an agnostic at the age of 14. I can say that I am both a “cradle” Catholic and a “convert”; a “cradle” Catholic because I was baptized in infancy and raised as a Catholic by my mother, and a “convert” because my biggest intellectual influence was my late father, who tried to inculcate rationalistic and humanistic ideas in my mind from the earliest years. My education was similarly split: my primary education (6 – 11 years old) took place in a very orthodox Catholic school, while the rest of my education (12 to 20 years old) took place in secular schools, with the exception of one year spent in a parish school that was not particularly orthodox. At the same time I went to church in parishes that, while not particularly “conservative”, at least nurtured traditional Catholic devotions. Like virtually all Filipino Catholics born after 1960 I knew very little about the traditional liturgy. The Traditional Latin Mass was known and remembered only as something to be scorned and best forgotten. Even then, as a teenager, I knew that something was wrong, that something had gone missing in Catholicism – but I didn’t know what it was.

I studied history and philosophy (of a very secular and anti-religious bent inherited from American universities) in the University of the Philippines, my country’s top university. I graduated with an AB in Philosophy in 2003. Paradoxically, it was in the rich library and Internet room of this university where I first began to know about the traditional liturgy of the Roman Rite at greater depth. I still remember the tears flowing from my eyes when I first saw pictures of the Traditional Latin Mass on the Internet, in full color! This – I said to myself – is what my heart has been looking for, all these years, even though I didn’t know it! This is what had been missing all these years! Before long I was able to track down a parish where it was celebrated. I attended my first Traditional Latin Mass in 2003, and never looked back.

Since then I have become more and more involved in the life of the Church. I am currently a member of the board of Ecclesia Dei Society of St. Joseph (the member of Una Voce in the Philippines), the Vice Chairman of Filipinos for Life (one of the Philippines’ largest and most active pro-life associations) and an Associate of Defensores Fidei Foundation, which is a Manila-based society dedicated to Catholic apologietics. I regularly give talks on topics relating to pro-life issues, Catholic apologetics and the Traditional Latin Mass. Some of you may be aware of my involvement in blogging, which continues to this very day.

As I have told our respected President, Mr. Leo Darroch, I am currently working on an elaborate program and plan of action on how Foederatio Internationalis Una Voce can take the lead in communicating the treasures of Catholic Tradition in the coming years and I hope to continue working on this in the coming months. I already gave some initial notes to him on this matter but I also have some obstacles in finishing this plan, and I ask for prayers that the Lord may assist me to finally finish this long-delayed project